Changes in the power mix help cut U.S. emissions

Natural gas powers the Cedar Bayou 4 plant in Baytown. The fuel is providing more of U.S. electricity.

Natural gas powers the Cedar Bayou 4 plant in Baytown. The fuel is...

A jump in natural gas use and big gains in energy efficiency have helped the United States make strides in cutting emissions over the past five years, according to a report released Thursday.

The "Sustainable Energy in America" fact book documents a 6.4 percent slide in total energy use between 2007 and 2012. During the same time frame, the amount of electricity generated both by natural gas and renewable sources climbed, and coal-fired power generation declined, helping to trim carbon dioxide emissions produced when fossil fuels are burned.

The Business Council for Sustainable Energy developed the report with Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Perhaps the biggest change documented in the report is America's transition toward lower- and zero-carbon power sources, especially natural gas, which provided nearly a third of the nation's electricity in 2012. That's a big jump from five years earlier, when natural gas generated just about a fifth of electricity in the United States.

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